Use of the senses by Alouatta coibensis in the evaluation of Spondias mombin fruits on Coiba Island, Panama

Abstract

The howler monkey (Alouatta sp.) has been reported to consume fruits of jobo (Spondias mombin), and to use its senses to evaluate the palatability of them. Our objective was to evaluate the use of the senses (sight, smell, taste and touch) by the Coiba howler monkey (A. coibensis) in the evaluation/acceptance process of S. mombin fruits on Coiba Island, Coiba National Park, Panama. We collected 83 minutes of Focal Animal´ observations between adult males and females that were feeding on S. mombin fruits. We evaluated the frequency of the use of their senses (sight, taste, smell and touch) and the acceptance of immature and mature fruits. The focal animals evaluated a total of 124 S. mombin fruits, 83 were ripe (43 accepted and 40 rejected) and 41 were immature fruits (9 accepted and 32 rejected). A. coibensis used all the senses to evaluate the S. mombin fruits, however, the sense they used most frequently was the taste and the one they used least frequently was the touch. At the level of acceptance, A. coibensis used taste and smell to define the acceptance of S. mombin fruits. We consider that the use of chemical senses favors the learning process in feeding behavior, during the evaluation and acceptance of S. mombin fruits, that is why they define their acceptance through these senses.